Life's Afterwords
by Inky-Paws
Summary: They are my friends, and I made an oath. An oath to always wait for them. And by God, will I abide by it. Even in death, I will wait for them, patiently, as so we can laugh together again.


Hi! So, I have no idea why I wrote this. I've written Hetalia fanfiction before, but this is my first Infernal Devices fanfic, so yeah. This probably will be terrible. Also, fair warning, this shows the trio's more platonic side of their friendship than the romantic side. This takes place in an au where instead of Jem becoming a Silent Brother to escape death, he died. So basically, most things here are the same as in the original story except for when Will was spitting blood because his connection with Jem was severed, it was severed by Jem dying, not becoming a Silent Brother. Confused yet? Me, too! There are a few other differences, but nothing that I feel like typing an explanation for right now. As an explanation for the title: Will and Tessa like books, so why not refer to the afterlife as life's afterwords? ...right? Anyway, I was rereading Clockwork Princess, and this idea came to mind... so enjoy? I guess? (Literally no idea anymore) Also, something more serious to keep in mind while reading this: This is meant to be an au. So what happens here, though it may not be possible the original Shadowhunters world, I view as possible here. Please keep that in mind while reading this.

* * *

 **Life's Afterwords**

* * *

 **1878?**

The afterlife, Jem supposed, was not what he thought it would be.

Then again, he wasn't entirely sure of what he was expecting.

Maybe that recurring wheel he spoke of so often? But then again, that only applied to people who hadn't made the promises he had. And he had made a promise, did he not, to wait for Will and Tessa? That if life was a recurring wheel, he'd wait for them so they could be reincarnated together?

He could only hope that they wouldn't come too soon, though.

If they came too soon it was because they died too young.

But, no matter how long it would take, he would wait for them.

 _I'll always wait for you, no matter how long it takes._

. _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO _ .

 **1925?**

As he lay down at the riverbank, Jem stared up at the sky. In the afterlife, it was a gray slate, blank and colorless. The grass that prickled the back of his neck was the dead, lifeless, golden color of long-dead roots, Jem knew, and the rushing river was a deep, dark, grey-blue that almost reminded him of Tessa's eyes. The river was in a bit of a water-worn gully, the only dent in the landscape. Other than that, everywhere you could see was fields of dead and wilting-looking flowers, not a tree in sight. This place was dim. Dim was the only word to describe it. It was blank, colorless, and boring. Mind-numbing, Will'd put it.

The only thing here that seemed so vibrant was his violin. For whatever the reason, his violin was here, all mahogany and shiny with a polish that didn't exist here. Jem didn't know why he had it, he had been clutching it when he woke up here. It looked almost brand-new, if you could ignore the slight chips on the bow and the bottom of the violin. It was well-used and a well-loved violin, anyone could tell that just by looking at it.

And the music that it created here was just as vibrant-looking as the violin itself. The only faintly musical thing about this place in the least. Jem would play songs of life, of living, of the sky, of Blackfriars Bridge, and all the things he missed. He'd play of his hopes and dreams. He'd play of Tessa and Will.

 _My songs tell of my hopes and dreams. And the both of you frequent them so often. Can you hear me, spilling my heart and soul?_

 _I'll see you soon, my friends._

. _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO _ .

 **1937?**

Jem stood on the riverbank, playing his violin. He played Bach, and yet he played of so much more. He played of Tessa as well, but he mainly played of Will. He had no idea how much time was passing in the living world, but he knew quite some time had passed by the whispers of the new ghosts that so rarely frequented the fields by the stream where he mainly resided. He knew that Tessa was immortal, and as long as that remained so, she would not die of old age. So he didn't have to worry about her as much.

But Will was a different case altogether.

Will was human.

He was mortal.

And he could die of old age, unlike Tessa, which was what made Jem worried, but also anticipative.

He would have to die soon, Jem knew, and join him here, where they'd wait for Tessa.

And as he played of all of these things, he heard a rather dry and sarcastic voice behind him.

"Waiting for me to kick the bucket, are you?" Spinning around Jem stared in amusement at the lone figure standing a few feet away, clutching a book, A Tale of Two Cities. Black curling hair lay pasted to the boy's forehead, and deep, cerulean eyes that could stare into your soul looked at him in curious manner. "Because, I'll tell you, there's no need for that. I'm right here." The boy spoke with a lazy drawl that said more about him than anything else.

Will stood before Jem, looking as young as ever.

Will stood there, smirking at Jem, with a certain sway to his features that all the other ghosts lacked, a certain realness, a feeling of solidity that was largely absent here, in the afterlife. "Dear God, this is a rather bloody drab place if I do say so myself. It will be even drearier if you just stand there, staring wide-eyed, like a certain Six-Fingered Nigel that I knew. Are you going to demand two-pence for a daisy and proceed to rob me when I refuse?"

Upon hearing these words, as if they were magic, Jem threw himself at Will in a tight hug that Will returned, and they stood there, hugging, for what seemed like hours.

 _Tess, we're waiting for you. We'll wait as long as necessary for you to come._

. _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO _ .

 **1970?**

Will and Jem sat along the riverbank, one reading, and the other playing his violin, for God knows how long. Time didn't seem to pass here normally, and was illustrated only when new ghosts, ghosts who weren't old enough to know the unofficial rules of this place, to know that those other two ghosts where hostile to all but each other and a few other exceptions, approached them. Most of the time William would just give them a death glare over his book while Jem would continue widely playing his violin, but sometimes if the rare ghost picked a fight with Will, a fight would insinuate until Jem told Will to knock it off.

Time was also illustrated by the rare appearance of their loved ones.

For example, when Gabriel appeared, he had stayed wth Will and Jem for what they'd later discover to be about five years until Cecily appeared. The four of them had stayed together a bit longer to talk, but Gabriel and Cecily had departed soon after, to discover what awaited them.

But other than those rare moments, tracking time was a concept unheard of in the afterlife. For all Will and Jem knew, they could be inhabiting a period of time where reading was unheard of and people only communicated through chips in their heads.

So in the meantime, they'd just read, and play the violin.

 _Tess, where are you? What is the year? What are you doing? What strange and unfortunate events have taken place this time? Who's stories are being told, and who's stories are just opening? What adventures are unfolding, and what adventures are closing?_ _Will we see you soon, or will we have to wait just a little bit longer? The answers to these questions are unknown to us, and we may never know. Time is only marked here by ghosts with a penchant for picking fights with Will and fleeting glimpses of the people we once knew and cared for. How are James and Lucie? Are they doing well? We have not seen their spirits yet, and to be perfectly honest, we hope we never do, because that means that they have passed. ...we miss you, Tess. I know this might sound terrible, because it basically means that we hope you die soon, but we really hope that we can see you soon. God, we miss you so, so, so much. ...Tess? Will we see you soon...?_

. _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO _ .

 **2007-8?**

It had been many years since Will and Jem had seen a friend or family member of theirs. Therefore, they had almost zero idea of what general year it was. This put the both of them on edge. Will punched a poor Italian ghost whom he'd later find out was named Feliciano Vargas. Feliciano didn't even purposely pick a fight with Will, he was just walking past and was trying to find his brother, Lovino Vargas.

Jem's music had been sounding harsh lately, like a child seesawing back and forth on a swing desperately needing greasing.

Will had read his book so many times he could quote all of it from heart, and Jem was getting, believe it or not, just a tad bored of playing the same old tunes. He'd try to write more, but there was something suffocating about this place that seemed to restrain most forms of creativity, save for witty remarks and sassy jeers.

Increasingly bored by all of this, the pair had taken to entertaining themselves with little hand games. Will was beating Jem at Rock-Paper-Scissors when the duo heard a voice and saw a figure in the distance.

A girl was standing on the top of the gully, gazing down at them with a queer look on her face. Windblown fine brown hair blew in her face, and gray-blue eyes peered down at them questioningly. She was adorned in a pretty yellow dress that looked quite like one that Jessamine had bought her long ago, and was clutching a whole stack of big storybooks to her chest. A faint smile lined her mouth as her stared down at the boys, laughter in her eyes.

Tessa.

"Were you just playing Rock-Paper-Scissors?" She adjusted her books and clasped a hand to her mouth, trying to mask her laughter. "Cause it sure looks like you are, and I didn't realize that Shadowhunters _did_ things like that. I mean, I can see a Shadowhunter child playing it when they're bored, but Shadowhunter adults? Really, if I had a camera, I'd've taken a picture for blackmail. You really be more careful. Next thing you know, I could make you two do the tango just by holding a rather stupid little photo over your heads."

We were silent for a minute, in astonishment that Tessa was really there, standing before us, before Will said amiably, "You tend to do stupid things when you are tediously bored and with nothing interesting to do." Tessa stumbled downhill towards us and sat down so our duo was a trio, still holding her books to her chest.

"Why are you here now?" Jem asked quietly, curiously. Tessa gave him a confused looks. "Well, I did a little thing called dying, and then I woke up here. What, is that not normal?" "No, I mean... how did you did? You're immortal. And to be frank, I thought you'd be gone longer," Jem said. "I mean, most warlocks live pretty long lifespans, so what happened?" Tessa hummed to herself. "Died protecting a group of Shadowhunter children in a war insinuated by Shadowhunters gone rogue. But the children lived, I've lived a pretty long life, so I'm not unhappy about it."

"What?" Will and Jem exclaimed at the same time. "A war insinuated by Shadowhunters?" "Not unhappy?" "Shadowhunters gone rogue?" They went through a series of exclamations before exclaiming together, "Tessa, Tess, what the hell has happened to our world in the past couple hundred years?"

Tessa laughed at this. "And that's what I'm here to explain. You've missed out on a lot, while you were dead." She laid out her books on the dead grass, and we got to get a good look at their covers. "City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass... Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess... City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire... Lady Midnight, Lord of Shadows, Queen of Air and Darkness... Chain of Gold, Chain of Iron, Chain of Thorns... and another series called The Wicked Powers? Tessa, what is this?" Will asked.

Tessa laughed harder. "History in the making, my friends. History in the making." Will and Jem frowned at this. "What?"

Grinning at this, Tessa said, "Ok, so how do I summarize this? Basically the books you are looking at are Shadowhunter histories that Magnus and I have drafted over the years. Most of these touch on the past, however, some of these tell of the future." "Oh?" Will asks with an eyebrow raised. "How so? Do tell. Inquiring minds want to know."

Tessa sighs at this. "Magnus sometimes gets true dreams from his father, telling of the future. The Dark Artifices, which is Lady Midnight, Lord of Shadows, and Queen of Air and Darkness, plus the Wicked Powers, are compromised of events that haven't actually happened yet but will happen in the near future. Like within the next ten or so years, tops. Anyway, we wrote these volumes of Shadowhunter history focusing on certain chain reactions of stupid that happened within the past 150-ish years. The Mortal Instruments is spilt up into two categories: books 1-3 and books 4-6. Books 1-3 are the City of Bones, the City of Ashes, and the City of Glass, and mainly focus on the Mortal War and the backstory behind it, and books 4-6 are the City of Fallen Angels, the City of Lost Souls and the City of Heavenly Fire, which focuses on the Dark War and the backstory behind it. The Last Hours, which is Chain of God, Chain of Iron, and Chain of Thorns, deals with the generation after us and our children and the issues that took place then." "I see that reference." Will muttered under his breath, interrupting Tessa. Undeterred, she pressed on.

"The Dark Artifices take place a couple of years after my death and the Dark and Mortal Wars. They mainly take place in Los Angeles in 2012, and follow events happening after the Mortal and Dark Wars. The Wicked Powers follows The Dark Artifices and tells of extreme change in the Shadowhunter world.

"And the Infernal Devices?" Jem asks. "You haven't talked about that one yet."

Tessa looked into her lap. "That one tells our story." Will and Jem backed with a start. Tessa continued. "It tells of how I met you two dorks, and Mortmain, and the events that happened in 1878."

Tessa looks up now. "And, I personally think that, when going over history, it is best to go over the parts that you know well first. So, what do you say? Read The Infernal Devices wth me, read the rest of my books, then go on one more adventure?" Her eyes sparked with a sort of hopefulness. And then Will started laughing. Hard. Jem joined in, and then did Tessa.

"Sure, Tess whatever ya say. Whatever ya say. Shall we journey into Life's Afterwords?"

"I do believe we shall!"

 _We're together now. And we've never felt so right._

. _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO . _ . _ . OoOoO _ .

* * *

A/N: It is true that Cecily and Gabriel died about 5 years apart. According to a family tree included as a bonus in the first edition of Clockwork Princess, Gabriel died sometime in 1940 and Cecily sometime in 1945. There are images online if you'd like to check them out. And the italics are the current thoughts of Jem, and when Will comes into play, the combined thoughts of the both of them, and then when Tessa comes into play, all three of their thoughts combined. Also, for Tessa's death, I decided that she'd've died in the Mortal or the Dark War, take your pick. (If she died in the Mortal War, She'd've died in 2007, if she died in the Dark War she'd've died in 2008) (this is a guess based on timelines and some rough estimates.) I figured dying while protecting Shadowhunter children was a fitting death for Tessa, considering how she had some of her own. And let's just play pretend here with the dates, shall we? Like I've said, most of these dates are based off of timelines, the rest are just dates that I randomly put down because they were about in the middle of two other more definite dates. Also, this story is a monster by my standards. Most of my stories are only about 700-1000 words per chapter, this is actually my longest so far. Wow. On a different note, can you spot all the references? Most of them were just references to things that happened in TDI and TMI, but I also threw in a Hetalia reference. I'm so sorry. I mentioned all of the Shadowhunter Chronicles books, past present, and future, to the best of my ability. These titles may be changed in the future, if they are, I will try to come here and change the title I have written down. Conspiracy theory: Cassie is really Magnus and Tessa telling Shadowhunter history. And Magnus has mentioned getting true dreams from his father telling of the future, so I built on that. Sorry for weak descriptions of TLH, TWP, AND TDA, the first two haven't come out yet and the other has another book that hasn't come out yet. I will try to come in and update this as more is revealed about these books. Anyway, thanks for reading this! Ciao!


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